Grandmaster had suspected Huo Wu possessed this ability since the qualifiers last time, only that time she still had the support of the auxiliary system Spirit Masters, and Grandmaster didn’t dare say for sure. But right now it was completely obvious, what she used was Ring Merging.
Under these circumstances her spirit power output would peak, right now the might of the spirit ability she used would also doubtless double.
The incandescence solidified in her palm. What Huo Wu released this time wasn’t blazing heat, but rather a condensed explosion.
An only egg-sized ball of white light floated out, flying straight for Tang San in the air. After releasing this white ball of light, Huo Wu’s complexion instantly turned deathly pale.
Different from Huo Wushuang’s attack, the instant the white ball of light had just left Huo Wushuang’s hands, Tang San felt his body suddenly stall, as if that not very large ball of light contained a boundless gravitational force. He was unable to dodge in the air, and watching that little ball of white light flying towards him, all he could do right now was to stiffly block it.
There were still a great many ways to block, and even though he was in a disadvantageous position, Tang San still hadn’t given up. Raising his right hand, his third spirit ability emerged for the first time today.
Part 2 (TL by Bagelson)
A green ball of light shot out of Tang San’s palm, instantly expanding. Under his meticulous control, the range this spider web covered was a lot smaller, but that also made it a lot thicker. Even something like that white light ball couldn’t overcome it.
White and green, two lights flowed together in midair. The moment the two came into contact, Tang San’s face changed.
With a tearing sound, the white ball of light unexpectedly straight through that durable Spider Web Restraint. It was unexpectedly rotating at high speed, and that perfectly round surface was moreover actually brimming with a cutting force.
A strand of Blue Silver Grass whipped out immediately afterward, but just like that Spider Web Restraint it was completely unable to hold back that white ball of light. When Tang San’s Blue Silver Grass lashed it, it was unable to change its direction. Only the Blue Silver Grass itself broke.
After coming into contact with it twice, if Tang San still didn’t have a grasp on the power of this white ball of light, then he wouldn’t deserve being Grandmaster’s disciple. He instantly understood that the spirit power contained in this white ball of light should be everything Huo Wu still had after releasing her third spirit ability twice, and it was furthermore compressed. The ball was completely locked on him under her mental control. In his current condition, unless he had an ability to completely condense all his spirit power like her, he was unable to block it.
Of course, Tang San overlooked one thing. This white ball of light was not only Huo Wu’s entire output, but also her entire output after using Ring Merging. Its power surpassed even the total sum of her whole spirit power.
In order to defeat Tang San, she had already given up on the rest of the match. Her goal was only to beat this youth in front of her.
The moment that white ball of light was about to strike Tang San, Tang San suddenly disappeared.
That disappearance naturally wasn’t without reason. Blue Silver Grass was ineffective against the white ball of light, but that didn’t mean it was useless.
Two strands of Blue Silver Grass struck the ground forcefully, sending Tang San higher into the air using the opposite force. When that white ball of light chased after him from below and almost caught up, Blue Silver Grass shot out of Tang San’s hand, directly twisting around Huo Wu’s waist.
Right now, Huo Wu had already made use of her entire spirit power, basically without the strength to resist. She only felt her waist tighten, and the next moment, Tang San had already magnified in front of her.
Indeed, Tang San’s target was Huo Wu, using her body weight to change his direction in the air, directly dashing down at Huo Wu.
Under effect of the tension, his movement through the air was naturally even faster. The two weren’t far apart, and collided after practically an instant.
Huo Wu subconsciously raised her arms to push off Tang San, but Tang San only spread his hands, neutralizing her palms. The instant the two of them collided, Tang San had already used a strand of Blue Silver Grass to bind the two of them tightly together.
Huo Wu only felt a great rotating force as Tang San turned around. Huo Wu involuntarily blocked in front of him, just like a shield. And that white ball of light hurriedly chased after with a humming sound.
Emptiness. Instantly, in Huo Wu’s mind was only emptiness. After that white ball of light had locked on Tang San, it had already become an attack out of her control. But at this moment, she had become Tang San’s shield.
She hadn’t expected this battle to reach this kind of conclusion. She knew she had already lost. But, she really was unwilling. Unwilling……
Would she die? Huo Wu was only too clear on the power of her own attack. She knew that in her present condition, it was basically impossible to block that attack. She would only end up like Tang San’s Blue Silver Grass, torn apart.
‘If I die I die, but even if I die I’ll still pull you down to hell with me.’ Huo Wu suddenly spread her arms, tightly embracing Tang San, and moreover surrendering her final trace of spirit power defense. She believed that even after that white ball of light had pierced her body, it would still cause Tang San serious injuries.
As she tightly held Tang San, the rancor in her heart surged. She even bit down on the muscles at Tang San’s shoulder. This bite was extremely fierce, and the instant her teeth clamped down, she felt tepid liquid flow into her mouth.
But at this moment, Tang San’s voice suddenly sighed next to her ear,
“Is it necessary?”
Their bodies seemed to rotate, and her tightly clamped hands suddenly felt something rush out of Tang San’s back. No longer able to hold on, she involuntarily let go. But there was still Blue Silver Grass’ Binding between them, and they were still pressed close together.
Alas, Tang San didn’t have any time right now, and he also wasn’t in the mood to feel that flexible and scorching hot delicate body.
“Sister——”
Huo Wushuang cried out in alarm, as did each member of Blazing Academy. But there wasn’t enough time for them to rush into the ring.
The Shrek Academy side was equally alarmed, both sides dashing into the ring practically simultaneously.
But what they saw was still Tang San suddenly rotating once again, not only didn’t he try to use Huo Wu as a shield again, but he instead turned himself into a shield for Huo Wu.
When Tang San bound him and Huo Wu together and turned her into a shield, he only had one goal, to force Huo Wu to give up on her attack. How could he have known that even Huo Wu herself was already unable to control it.
Seeing Huo Wu’s rancorous embrace, as well as the gaze in her eyes that seemed to view death as a return home, Tang San was shocked to discover that this girl was unexpectely ready to die to drag him along with her.
Tang San didn’t have any hostility towards Huo Wu, and it seemed to him that Huo Wu was nothing more than an aggressively competitive girl.
She was, after all, a girl, and he was a man. How could he truly be so coarse as to ruin a flower? In these circumstances, this was the only choice Tang San could think of.
Therefore, the instant the white ball of light was on the verge of arriving, he turned around while pasted to Huo Wu, using his back to confront the bombardment of the compressed energy ball.
Eight Spider Lances shot out, just enough to break open Huo Wu’s arms, leaving that attack completely for Tang San to withstand.
He didn’t let Eight Spider Lances extend completely, but only half a chi[2]. That ball of white light blossomed completely in the next moment, and it was basically impossible for anyone to pay attention to that momentary change on Tang San’s back.<
br />
The number of people with blank minds turned from one into two. Tang San only felt his body lighten, everything around him spinning. There was no pain, only a momentary numbnes, and his entire body became paralysed. Even though he focused his entire Mysterious Heaven Skill on his back, he still became numb.
Huo Wu also felt herself flying, the violent shcok making her briefly dizzy, and she practically unconsciously tightened her grip on Tang San.
The numbness changed into omnipresent pain in practically an instant. Tang San’s mind recovered a bit, and when they were about to hit the ground, he turned his body. Since he was acting the hero, he might as well do it to the end.
The two struck the ground with a rumbling sound. Tang San below, Huo Wu on top. The instant of gravitational force almost made Tang San lose consciousness.
The reason he used his back to hit the ground was also in order to hide Eight Spider Lances. He clearly felt Eight Spider Lances tremble, and he could even hear some minute cracking sounds behind him. But there wasn’t any pain on his back.
Coughing up a mouthful of blood, Tang San was still a bit lower than Huo Wu, and this mouthful of blood sprayed onto her chest. For the first time he learned the feeling of five organs burning, the blood and qi within his body constantly roiling, as if it was on fire.
Mysterious Heaven Skill really was worthy of being called a first class internal skill of the profound orthodox sects. It protected Tang San’s body as far as possible in the instant of the explosion, and further adding the protection of Eight Spider Lances, even though Tang San was seriously injured, it wasn’t life threatening.
This was the result of Tang San’s careful calculations. When he turned Huo Wu, he had already estimated that with his defense, there was no way he would die.
The Binding Blue Silver Grass between the two had already been torn apart by the explosive force, but Huo Wu’s hands still tightly clutched Tang San’s arms. Her whole body trembled, but whether it was because of fury or something else was unknown.
The team members from both sides were already rushing over. Tang San opened his eyes and looked at the very close Huo Wu with a slight smile. Even though his face was deathly pale, that still didn’t affect his unperturbed temper.
“Still haven’t hugged enough? You won.”
Huo Wu looked at Tang San, her eyes refocusing. Right now she discovered that her hands holding onto Tang San’s arms were already dyed red with blood.
That of course wasn’t her blood. Before, she had clearly felt spirit power surge out of Tang San’s body, using his not at all taller than her body to completely shelter her from harm. What she had endured was at most some shaking.
Won? Was she really the winner? A trace of bitterness blossomed at the corner’s of Huo Wu’s mouth. Right now her consciousness was still somewhat fuzzy, and even she herself didn’t quite know what she thought in her heart.
“Little sister, are you alright?”
Huo Wushuang pulled his little sister upright, carefully looking her over.
“I’m alright.”
And right now, Xiao Wu, with tears streaming down her cheeks, pulled Tang San into her embrace. Jiang Zhu’s healing halos were rushing out without a thought to how much spirit power was wasted. Oscar’s big sausage was already in Tang San’s mouth.
Were it not for Tang San promptly warning off Ning Rongrong, perhaps she would have used her four boost abilities on Tang San.
Part 3 (TL by Bagelson)
“Silly girl, don’t cry! Big brother is fine.”
Tang San was going to raise his hand to rub Xiao Wu’s head, but discovered his arm wouldn’t rise for some reason.
Actually, when he faced Huo Wu he didn’t have any intention of winning this fight. In what is called ‘leaving a way out’, he had already defeated six people, Shrek Academy would definitely be the final victors of this ranking match, so why would he need to exterminate them to the last? It might be pleasurable to defeat seven alone, but that would also entail branding both sides with hatred. He didn’t wish for that.
After all, he didn’t hold any malice towards Blazing Academy.
Therefore, Tang San originally only planned to waste as much of Huo Wu’s spirit power as he could, leaving the end of the match for the next person going up to handle. But who could have thought that Huo Wu would target him so fiercely, with this being the end result.
When Dai Mubai helped Tang San up, revealing his back, the Shrek Academy group drew a cold breath practically simultaneously.
The clothes on Tang San’s back were already in pieces, full of badly mangled flesh and blood, in some places even the bone beneath was visible. Even his arms were already dyed red with blood, hanging limply by his sides.
What kind of pain was this? But Tang San’s face still held an unperturbed smile, as if this pain was nothing to him. Only the sweat beading on his forehead told people that he was injured.
Huo Wu’s white ball of light had even greater attack power than Tang San had imagined. If not for Eight Spider Lances, if not for his body being forged in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, even if he didn’t die this time, he would still at least have been seriously injured.
But even though his injuries were ghastly to look at, they were nothing more than some flesh wounds. His bones and internal organs hadn’t suffered too much harm.
By now the referee was a walking over, calling out for medical staff to treat Tang San while declaring Huo Wu the victor of this fight.
Before Shrek Academy’s second team member appeared, Huo Wu had already declared that she conceded the next match. Whether her exhausted spirit power or the state of the heart, she no longer had neither the will nor ability to keep fighting.
Right now the Shrek Academy group couldn’t spare a thought to hate Huo Wu, their only concern was Tang San’s safety.
Tang San was carried out lying face down on a stretcher, this was the true end of this match. Even though Tang San hadn’t made too great of a show in the last fight, his previous six fights had long ago conquered everyone.
Moreover, had he truly lost the last fight?
He could completely have used Huo Wu’s body to shield himself from the attack. With his control strength, he would only have needed to infuse her body with some of his spirit power, letting that white ball of light detonate in Huo Wu. There wouldn’t have been any danger to him, and it wouldn’t even have been against the rules.
After all, that terrifying attack was used by Huo Wu, not Tang San.
“Will my ge really be alright?”
In the barracks, Xiao Wu looked with concern at the Heaven Dou Imperial court doctor.
The doctor was a forty something woman, and by appearances she should have been a beauty in her youth. She smiled calmly at Xiao Wu, saying:
“Little miss, this is already the seventeenth time you’ve asked me the same question. Don’t worry. Your big brother won’t have any major issues, only his skin and flesh was injured. His bones are intact and internal organs protected. Truly strange. The flexibility of his muscles is at least three times that of ordinary Spirit Masters, how did he train to become like this? Right now he’s only lost a bit of blood, he needs to rest a while. He will be able to move as usual in at most five days. However. It’s best if you don’t let him participate in any more matches in this ranking competition. Otherwise there’s a chance the wounds would be torn open.”
“Thank you, auntie doctor.”
The doctor smiled calmly, picking up her medical box:
“Alright, you take care of him properly, I’ll leave first.”
Seeing the doctor out, Xiao Wu’s expression finally relaxed somewhat. Right now Tang San was already deep asleep.
Watching his still deathly pale face, bursts of heartache like daggers in her heart attacked Xiao Wu. She would prefer she was the one injured rather than seeing Tang San wounded like this!
Grandmaster waved his hand to the Shrek Academy group in the room, saying:
“Alright, the rest of you all go rest. There’s still a match tomorrow. Let’s leave Xiao Wu to look after Tang San here.”
Everyone moved to quietly leave the room. As long as Tang San was alright, they were also at ease.
Inside the room, only Xiao Wu, Grandmaster and Tang San remained. Grandmaster looked at Tang San who lay on his stomach in the bed, deep asleep, and said with a slight smile:
“Little San really did the right thing.”
Xiao Wu raised her head, puzzled looking at Grandmaster,
“Grandmaster, are you still saying he did the right thing? He could clearly have let that Huo Wu take the attack.”
Grandmaster sighed, saying:
“What little San did was for the sake of the Academy’s reputation, and also for your future. First of all, the five elemental academies are like siblings. If he had truly defeated seven of the Blazing Academy singlehandedly, then he would inevitably have roused the anger of the other three academies. And this hatred would also bear considerable fruit. Second, if he had really used Huo Wu’s body to block that attack, Huo Wu would definitely have died. Huo Wu is the genius of a generation to Blazing Academy, if she died, first let alone any powers behind her back, the reprisals from Blazing Academy alone would have deluged us in trouble. Tang San wanted to see that even less. You’re all students, there’s no deep hatred or great regret, therefore he chose this conclusion. I believe that when little San used his body to block the attack he had certainly already calculated his endurance and the opponent’s attack power.”
Grandmaster had always regarded Tang San as his own child. Seeing Tang San injured, how couldn’t he feel regretful?
But Grandmaster was always an intellectual, as soon as he knew Tang San wasn’t in any grave danger, his reason immediately took the fore, and simple analysis allowed him to confirm Tang San’s actions. Of course, this didn’t mean he didn’t care about Tang San’s injuries.
Xiao Wu sighed lightly, and didn’t say anything else. What she thought in her heart right now was that as long as Tang San was alright, nothing else mattered.
Just at this time, Dai Mubai’s ice cold voice suddenly resounded from outside,
Douluo Dalu - Volume 01-48 Page 200